Biochar addition alleviate the negative effects of drought and salinity stress on soybean productivity and water use efficiency

Abstract

Background: Environmental stress is a crucial factor restricting plant growth as well as crop productivity, thus influencing the agricultural sustainability. Biochar addition is proposed as an effective management to improve crop performance. However, there were few studies focused on the effect of biochar addition on crop growth and productivity under interactive effect of abiotic stress (e.g., drought and salinity). This study was conducted with a pot experiment to investigate the interaction effects of drought and salinity stress on soybean yield, leaf gaseous exchange and water use efficiency (WUE) under biochar addition. Results: Drought and salinity stress significantly depressed soybean phenology (e.g. flowering time) and all the leaf gas exchange parameters, but had inconsistent effects on soybean root growth and WUE at leaf and yield levels. Salinity stress significantly decreased photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, intercellular CO 2 concentration and transpiration rate by 20.7, 26.3, 10.5 and 27.2%, respectively. Lower biomass production and grain yield were probably due to the restrained photosynthesis under drought and salinity stress. Biochar addition significantly enhanced soybean grain yield by 3.1-14.8%. Drought stress and biochar addition significantly increased WUE-yield by 27.5 and 15.6%, respectively, while salinity stress significantly decreased WUE-yield by 24.2%. Drought and salinity stress showed some negative interactions on soybean productivity and leaf gaseous exchange. But biochar addition alleviate the negative effects on soybean productivity and water use efficiency under drought and salinity stress. Conclusions: The results of the present study indicated that drought and salinity stress could significantly depress soybean growth and productivity. There exist interactive effects of drought and salinity stress on soybean productivity and water use efficiency, while we could employ biochar to alleviate the negative effects. We should consider the interactive effects of different abiotic restriction factors on crop growth thus for sustainable agriculture in the future.

Incorporated Biochar-Based Soil Amendment and Exogenous Glycine Betaine Foliar Application Ameliorate Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Tolerance and Resilience to Osmotic Stress

“…The application of biochar has a great potential to decrease Na + uptake and increase K + uptake. Biochar application increased cell formation and size in the root and allowed rice roots to absorb more K + and hold Na + ions away under salt stress avoiding ion toxicity, reducing the transport of Na + into the xylem isolating Na + into the vacuole [ 38 , 39 ]. Application of glycine betaine as foliar spraying improved seedling vigor, cell elongation, and growth, while enabling the plants with the developed transporter linked with the positive ion selectivity on the cell membrane and vacuole wall [ 40 ].…”

Review of Large-Scale Biochar Field-Trials for Soil Amendment and the Observed Influences on Crop Yield Variations

“…Overall, the meta-analysis studies broadly indicate biochar to be a suitable tool for improving crop yield in acidic and nutrientpoor soils. Contrary to the positive effects of biochar application, studies have also reported negative effects of application of biochar on the crop yield, plant growth, and nutrient availability (Jeffery et al, 2017;Sänger et al, 2017;Zhang et al, 2020). In some studies, the application of freshly prepared biochar has been reported to hinder crop yield due to the immobilization of nutrients (Ding et al, 2010;Taghizadeh-Toosi et al, 2012;Kammann et al, 2015).…”

“…Biederman and Stanley, 2013;Shareef and Zhao, 2017). On the contrary, some studies in temperate regions have reported no effect or negative effects on crop productivity (Hussain et al, 2017;Sänger et al, 2017;Cornelissen et al, 2018;Zhang et al, 2020). Moreover, the majority of literature available on biochar production, its characterization, and effects on soils are based on lab scale (pot or plot) studies; the field scale studies being very limited.…”

Biochar-Improved Growth and Physiology of Ehretia asperula under Water-Deficit Condition

“…Biochar not only improves the soil structure, fertility, and ion transfer ability but also increased the activity of microbes and nutrient holding and exchange capacity of the soil. Therefore, biochar addition is proposed as an effective management to improve crop performance [21], as supported by the results we obtained from the experiments on Ehretia asperula plants, for which all biochar treatments clearly improved the growth characteristics such as plant height; number of leaves; and dry biomasses of root, shoot and leaves. These results agree with previous data obtained by several researchers who reported that the application of biochar increased the plant height and leaf area of okra [30] and maize [31] under drought-stress conditions.…”

“…Furthermore, biochar enriches the physicochemical properties, biological properties, and soil enzymatic activity of the soil, increasing the water status of plants. Several studies have revealed that biochar improves soil quality and crop productivity under limited water conditions [18][19][20][21]. However, some results also reported that biochar does not always seem to be useful for crop growth [22,23].…”